Journal of the end time - extracts from a diary
by Maureen Seneviratne
Published by Wimal Enterprises, Colombo
2004, pp. 156
Review by Carl Muller

Maureen Seneviratne is an inspired writer, and she can word-lash with
cutting exactitude when it is demanded of her. In this insistent record
from her diary - each entry like the blazing bead of an olive-wood rosary,
she calls on us to think of an 'end time' - a time of havoc, bitterness,
hatred and pestilence - not the pestilence of some epidemic but the
pestilential forces that still bubble to the surface in this witches
cauldron that has become our island home.

In a 'World Before' she justifies her stance. All four great religions
tell of this 'end time' and it seems that we are witness to the manic rush
to it in this so-called Paradise. It may be trite, but even the original
Paradise knew no peace or order, did it?

Maureen gave to the Army her son, but yet, was it his war? Whose war
was it? When the 13 soldiers killed at Elephant Pass were brought for
burial at Kanatte, Borella town was set ablaze. July 1983... and as a
friend told her, "Galle Road is an arc of fire!"

Helpless, decent Tamils who never said it was their war either...
"Like the German people," Maureen says, "in the 30s and 40s
were helpless when the Nazi gangsters burned the houses of the Jews and
took them away to destroy them..."

This diary record is a stunning one. What is more shame-making to us as
Lankans, is to face the stern castigation of the writer - words that spit
cobra-fashion, into the faces of so many who should cower in disgrace.

Refugees... the Church of Martyrs in Mannar. Bleak eyed Tamil refugees
say: "We have lived in Kotahena for centuries. In the shadow of the
cathedral." Then came death, looting, burning, ships to carry them
North. It was here that the King of Jaffna slaughtered all his subjects
who had converted to Christianity. And the sad decision: "We'll go to
South India... why should we stay in a country that does not want
us?"

If people can still be brain-washed, led out to kill, to ravage and
destroy, what part of this "nation" can they ever belong to? As
Maureen says: "We have all become monsters battening on our own flesh
and blood and the media battens on that." What sort of nation do we
proclaim when the Lord of Misrule crows from the roof of the roost?

July 1987... India moves in. "History, I thought, is being
repeated... Invasion by Invitation?... 3000 Indian troops in Jaffna...
more to come... already Colombo is in flames... people anti-people.

Destroying each other in the name of... a Pact to bring in the
clowns?" Maureen asks if it would not have been better if JR had
taken the people into his confidence, formed a National Government. But
no, thousands had to die, divisions were fostered, a Peace-Keeping Force
invited to overlord a part of our island.

And she reminds: the Portuguese came, also to sign a pact, support a
king at enmity with his own brothers. "We are indeed a cursed
generation," she declares. "We have perpetrated our own misery.
We are paying with our shame for our follies."

The IPKF... Guzzling gallons of coconut oil, eating every banana they
could, slaughtering the village goats, raping young girls, robbing every
village boutique. The accursed Javans. Their assault on the Muslim village
of Vallichenai; hundreds of refugees fleeing to Polonnaruwa. "They
came inside our houses. Molested us. Raped our women. Our young girl
children.

They took even the food cooking on the fire. They were like animals mad
for sex. They called 'Paki! Paki' as they attacked us. Many who fled died
in the Welikanda and Poonani jungles. Women who got pregnant committed
suicide. Others were strangled by their own husbands..."

A Batticaloa Burgher family... a child of eleven with terrible eyes.
"She was raped thirteen times," the grandmother said. An
occupying army doing its will on the people of the East; the
peace-keepers, invited here as friends of Lanka!

This publication has been assembled in an appealing presentation as a
book. The title is bound to arouse the curiosity of readers. Perhaps
deliberately the title is left as an intriguing caption. The author was
popular with his 'Traditional Homelands' which appeared sometime ago. Now
the new publication turns the spotlight on him and evokes a number of
questions.

The author elaborates on ways and means utilised for exploitation which
takes place when advantageously placed countries enforce their will on
helpless countries. The writer explores the takeover and use by stronger
developed countries of impoverished weaker neighbours within the globe.
This process allows no room or means for the development or growth of the
poor countries which reduced to the level of victims to be misused for the
profit and advantage of more advanced countries.

On the other hand, as the author pertinently and prudently points out
sustainable development is the very antithesis of monetary exploitation.
Sustainable growth should spur the people all over to lead a life of self
satisfaction and gear them to gain self fulfilment at the same time.

Goods needed domestically to sustain health, and to obtain essential
requirements in the way of comfort, happiness and security have to be
provided in terms of sustainable development. Furthermore the author
maintains that sustainable growth ought to encourage social and economic
activity built on resources that will be kept alive by society and nature.

The writer's aim is to find out the reason for worldwide poverty and
how it could be overcome. The answer to this comes from the author's
formula itself. He has described this formula in about 26 chapters, and
what he says is presumed to be correct. This is about financial
exploitation, poverty, aid, free trade, terrorist crisis, peace
international security and on how exploitation can be got rid of.

The writer is not a trained economist. A number of statements in the
book will be questioned and the books will spark off criticism from
diverse quarters. Unfortunately there is no index, which would have been
useful. For curiosity sake and to know something unusual, the book may be
read for example to find out what is termed "the Karuna definition of
sustainable development..."

The author suggests of fruitful relations between the developed and
developing countries and he condemns domination of one nation by another.
A better deal in employment is advocated for women. This oppression and
exploitation may end the writer believes. It can be discerned that the
author is inclined to have a free, fair and just world instead of the
prevailing unfair order or set up.

The subject of study picked out by the writer is interesting and
important but necessarily constricts the discussion to be limited to one
aspect of exploitation. The focus is essentially on monetary exploitation.

***************

A stimulating journey of the mind into
space

A View of the World.
To my grandchildren
By Godwin Wijesinghe
(Printed at Banu Graphics. 916, Thalangama South, Battaramulla)
Review by Mallika Wanigasundara

Godwin Wijesinghe, who only four years ago became familiar with the
meaning of Buddhism, leaves this book to his grandchildren, to tell them
about the core and essence of the Teachings of the Buddha and the
contentment it brought to his life.

This happened in far away Canada and the revelations would probably be
entirely new, to his grandchildren. Wijesinghe was a Christian. The
Teachings of the Buddha are placed against a worldview of civilisations
which went before.

But this exploration would I am sure, be of interest not merely to the
uninitiated and the curious, but also to Buddhists who would like to
understand the Teachings presented in simple and comprehensive form.

Wijesinghe quotes profusely from many sources - from scholarly bhikkhus,
learned scholars and philosophers, and from wide-eyed, open-hearted
visitors to this country who saw not only its explosive tropical beauty,
but also its spirituality and found for themselves the source of the
ancient teaching. For such a small book the spectrum is wide and it is a
pathfinder among men of letters, science and philosophy.

Wijesinghe quotes from the Dhamma epitomizing the openness of the
Teaching of the Dhamma, its freedom of thought, expression and tolerance,
so important to the young growing up in an era which values these
concepts. Wijesinghe explains 'ehi passiko' (come and see), the absence of
dogma and the rejection of an inflexible stance that there is only one.

Truth alone, and none other. The reader is introduced to who the Buddha
really is - not a divine being or a mysterious, powerful manifestation,
but a highly enlightened human being who has shown the way and it is left
to others to follow his teachings.

The reader is also introduced to the history of Buddhism and then to
some understanding of the essence of Buddhism - the Four Noble Truths, the
Middle Path, the reliance on self alone and on no outside entity, the
release from sansara and the attainment of Nibbana.

Wijesinghe quotes the Ven. Rahula who explains the Five Aggregates of
Matter, Sensations, Perceptions, Mental formations and Consciousness and
the Bhikkhu says: What we call a 'being' or an 'individual' or 'I' is only
a convenient name or label given to the combination of these five groups.
They are all impermanent, all constantly changing.

Whatever is impermanent is 'dukkha.'

The reader is then led to the path of Nibbana.

In the second half of the book the writer introduces the reader to a
wide mosaic of civilisations from the past, giving one an idea of the
development of culture and religion over the ages.

Wijesinghe's grandchildren and others would get a glimpse of ancient
Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, the Vedas, the Upanishads, Greece
and Rome, the romance and wonder of Troy, Ulysses and if you pursue these
guidelines elsewhere, you would meet the wondrous Helen. And if you are
more intellectually curious, you could search for more information about
Plato, Socrates, Aristotle.

All of it is a most stimulating journey into space for the mind.

***************

Sabaragamuwa - in Legend and History

Sabaragamuwa Vansa Kathawa
Published by the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council
by Sumana Saparamadu

Sabaragamuwa was the last to be demarcated and declared a province.
That was in January 1889. When the British rulers first divided their new
colony into the provinces in 1833, to facilitate administration, the
present Ratnapura district was part of the Southern Province and parts of
the Kegalla district were in the Western Province and parts in the Central
Province.

Sabaragamuwa was on administrative unit with Ratnapura as the capital
until 1953 when Kegalla, comprising Thun Korala (Three Korala), Hatara
Korala (Four Korala) and lower Bulathgam Korala were declared as separate
districts.

The Kandyan Kingdom comprised 12 Disavanis (administrative divisions)
and Sabaragamuwa was one of them. But the Sabaragamuwa Disava was smaller
in area, smaller than even the Ratnapura district.

Although the province is now known as Sabaragamuwa, the name used in
earlier documents was Saparagamu. The Kandyan Convention listing the
disavas comprising the kingdom gives the name Saparagamu. That was the
official name of the disava. Sapara became Sabara in popular parlance. The
scholar-monk now an MP, the Ven. Ellawala Medananda derives Sapara from
the Sanskrit Shavera, Sinhala Sapara meaning "blue gem". He even
conjectures that the Greek Sappheiros may be a derivative of Shavera or
Sapara, the word used by the men who took the blue gems to Greece.

The author of the continuation of the Mahavamsa written during the 13th
century records that bhikkhus from Saphare ratte were among those who
participated in the Sangayana convened by Parakrama Bhanu I to reform the
Sangha.

Some of the very backward parts of the country even today are in
Sabaragamuwa, especially in the Ratnapura district. Yet Sabaragamuwa has
many claims to 'Firsts' - the world's first woman Prime Minister, the
first woman to get elected to our legislature, the first woman to win an
Olympic medal. Both Mrs.

Adeline Molamure elected member for Ruwanwella in the State Council
(1931-35) at a by election in November 1931 and Ms. Susanthika Jayasingha
are 'natives' of the Kegalla district. These are the most outstanding of
Sabaragamuwa's many claims to 'Firsts'.

The province has claims to many unique features too. Sri Paada/Adam's
Peak, the holy mountain revered by Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and assisted
by John Still by Eastern Christians as well.

Sinhraja one of the few remaining virgin rainforests in the world, the
Wesak Orchid endemic in the Ratnapura district, the priceless gems
embedded in the earth around which has given the town its name and as
stated earlier gave the province its name, are some of them.

Homo Sapiensis Balangodensis lived and roamed in Balangoda and its
environs of far back as 30,000 BC. Rock caves in both districts and gem
pits have yielded evidence of homo sapiens who lived here in the
mesolithic and neolithic ages.

A little known fact - Sabaragama had a woman Disava (chief
administrator) appointed by the King. No other district has had a woman as
a chief.

She was known as Edanduwawe Disawa after her native village near
Mawanella in the Kegalla district. Folk lore tells us that she was an
expert fencer who, disguised as a man, fought a dual with a fencer from
the Suraliya guild, to avenge the death of her father (he belonged to the
Maraliya guild) killed by foul play in a dual. She was victorious and won
accolades from the king, who finding out her true identity was so
impressed that he made her a Disava and presented five elephants and more
- the privilege of riding an elephant, a privilege denied to women.

From 1931 when we got universal franchise there have been more women
MPs from Sabaragamuwa than from any other province. While Colombo and
Gampaha the most literate districts together have had seven MPs, including
the member for Attanagalla, Sabaragamuwa has elected nine Members of
Parliament and one member of the State Council.

The only woman to be elected to the first parliament in 1947 was Mrs.
Florence Senanayaka, member for Dehiowita, the Kegalla district. The
Speaker of both the State Council and Parliament, Sir Francis Molamure, is
another 'first' from Sabaragamuwa.

Some of the very heroic and colourful figures in our history are sons
of Sabaragamuwa - Parakramabahu I, born in Dedigama, the warrior King
Rajasinghe I also known as Sitawaka Rajasingha, Edirille Rala born in
Colombo and baptised Domingo Corea, who returned to the village of his
ancestors Atulugama near Sitawaka and turned against the Portuguese, the
fearless Leuke Disawa slain on the orders of Sri Wickrama, Saradiel the
highway robber and in more recent times, Maduwanwela Disawa who had scant
respect for the ruling Brits and was a legend in his life time.

In our own day, the foremost among the bhikkhus from Sabaragamuwa who
have served the sasana is the saintly Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreyya.

Among the famous sons and daughters of Sabaragamuwa are two cinema
icons, Joe Abeywickrama and Irangani Serasinghe (nee Meedeniya), the
monk-poet turned politico Sagara Palansuriya, better known as Kayus the
author of the perennial favourite Sudo Sudu, B. A. Sirisena - editor of
Aththa, Dr. Wijaya Godekumbura, the inventor of the safety lamp and winner
of the Rolex Award, and academicians Dr. J. B. Dissanayaka and Dr. Siri
Gunasingha, all hail from Sabaragama.

All this and more has been recorded in a 3 volume chronicle titled
Sabaragamuwe Vamsa Kathawa, published by the Sabaragamuwa Provincial
Council. Well documented with copious references, statistics each chapter
has been written by a specialist in the field viz Ven. Ellawala Medananda
archaeologist par excellence, Dr. Sriyan Deraniyagala, Prof. Kapila
Dahanaya, Prof. C. M. Madduma Bandara, Prof. S. B. Navaratna Prof. W. H.
Wijepala, the present Director of Archaeology, to name a few.

What do you wish to know about Sabaragamuwa? You name it and it will be
there - Sabaragamuwa's pre-history, its legends and history up to date,
topography, place name, folk lore, folk poetry, customs, rituals,
festivals, arts and crafts and the sons and daughters of Sabaragamuwa who
have distinguished themselves in their chosen fields.

What struck me as I read their names and achievements was the part
played by the Central Schools in the blossoming of young men and women who
came out into the open from the glens and mountain villages hidden in
jungles. But for the State's free education would some of them be where
they are now, or were a few years ago!

As I discovered in my conversation with some or two closely associated
with the compilation of the Wansa Katha, it has been a labour of love of a
few 'natives'of Sabaragamuwa proud of their heritage and determined to
record it before it is forgotten.

The Wamsa Katha is edited by Dr. Pandula Andagama, former Assistant
Director of the National Museum, assisted by Saviman Uragodawatta, both
products of Central School, Andegama of the Karawita MMV and Seevali
College, Ratnapura and Uragodawatta of Gankanda MMV.

The three volume Vamsa Katha replete with maps, pictures, photographs,
facsimiles of inscriptions, is an encyclopedia on Sabaragama which should
be in every school library, and made easily accessible to students, to
gather information on any topic related to their studies.